 | The Fairy-Queen |  |
ACT I.
SCENE, A Palace.Enter Duke and Attendants at one door. Egeus, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius at the other.
Du.
Now, good Egeus, what's the News with thee?
Eg.
Full of Vexation come I, and Complaint,
Against my Child, my Daughter Hermia.
Stand forth Demetrius, my Gracious Lord,
This Man has my Consent to Marry her.
Stand forth, Lysander; this, most Noble Duke,
This, has Bewitch'd the Bosom of my Child.
Thou, thou Lysander, thou hast given her Spells,
In Bracelets of thy Hair, Rings, Lockets, Verses.
(Arts that prevail on unexperienc'd Youth)
With cunning thou hast stoln my Daughter's Heart.
Turn'd her Obedience (which is due to me)
To Stubborness: If therefore, (Royal Sir)
My Daughter does not here before your Grace,
Consent to Marry with Demetrius,
Let the stern Law punish her Disobedience,
And Cage her in a Nunnery.
Du.
Be advis'd, Fair Hermia,
To you your Father should be as a God,
The Maker of those Beauties; yes, and one
To whom you are but as a Form in Wax,
By him Imprinted, and within his Pow'r,
Her.
O would my Father look'd but with my Eyes.
Du.
No, no; your Eyes must with his Judgment look.
Her.
Let me intreat you, Sir, to Pardon me
I know not by what Power I am made bold,
Nor how it may concern my Modesty,
In such a Presence to unfold my thoughts.
But I beseech your Grace, that I may know
The worst that may befal me in this case,
If I refuse to Wed Demetrius.
Du.
You must Abjure
For ever the Society of Men.
Therefore, Fair Hermia, question your Desires,
Know of your Youth, examine well your Blood,
Whether (if you refuse your Father's Choice)
You can indure the Habit of a Nun,
To be immur'd for ever in a Cloister.
Her.
Is there no Mean? No other Choice, my Lord?
Du.
None, Hermia, none.
Therefore prepare to be Obedient,
Or like a Rose to wither on the Tree.
Consider well; take till to morrow Morning,
And give me then your Resolution.
De.
Relent, sweet Hermia; and Lysander yield
Your doubtful Title, to my certain right.
Ly.
You have her Father's Love, Demetrius,
Let me have Hermia's; Marry, marry him.
Eg.
Scornful Lysander, true he has my Love.
And what is mine my Love shall render him;
And she is mine, and all my right in her
I give, and settle on Demetrius.
Ly.
I am, my Lord, as Nobly Born, as he;
My Fortune's every way as great as his.
And (without boast) my Love is more than his.
But what is more than all these boasts can be,
I am Belov'd of Beautious Hermia.
Why should this Faithless Man Invade my Right?
He who solicited Old Nedar's Daughter,
And won her Love; The Beautious Hellena,
Tho' she's neglected; she poor Lady dotes
Du.
'Tis true, Lysander, I have heard as much.
Hermia, resolve to be obedient.
Or, as the Law ordains it, you must take
An everlasting Farewel of the World.
To Morrow in the Morning give your answer: so farewell.
[Ex. all but Her. and Ly.
Ly.
O my true Hermia! I have never found
By Observation, nor by History,
That Lovers run a smooth, and even course:
Either they are unequal in their Birth—
Her.
O cross too high to be impos'd on Love!
Ly.
Or if there be a Simpathy in choice,
War, Sickness, or pale Death lay Siege to it,
Making it momentary as a sound,
Swift as the Lightning in the blackest night;
That at one Instant shews both Heav'n and Earth.
Yet e'er a man can say, behold the Flame,
The jaws of darkness have devour'd it up;
So quick even brightest things run to Confusion.
Her.
If then true Lovers have been ever cross'd,
It stands as a Decree in Destiny.
Then let us teach each other Patience,
Because it is a customary thing.
Ly.
'Tis well advis'd, my Hermia,
Pray hear me. I have an Aunt, a Widow,
She has no Child, and is extreamly rich;
She chose me, loves me, bred me as her Son,
Has setled all her Fortune upon me.
To her we'll fly; and there, (my sweetest Hermia)
There (if you give consent) I'll marry you.
And thither this Inhuman, Cruel Law
Cannot pursue us. If thou lov'st me then,
Steal from thy Father's House this very night,
And in the Wood, a mile without the Town,
Near the great spreading Oak, I'll stay for thee,
And at some little distance from that place
Have all things ready to convey thee thence.
Her.
Oh my Lysander!
I swear to thee by Cupid's strongest Bow,
By all the Oaths which ever Men have broke,
(In number more than ever Women spoke)
I will, where thou appoint'st, meet my Lysander.
Ly.
Enough, my Love: look here comes Hellena.
Enter Hellena.
Her.
Welcome, fair Hellena.
Hel.
You mock me, Hermia, when you call me fair;
'Tis you are fair, 'tis you Demetrius loves.
Sickness is catching, oh were Beauty so,
I'd catch your Graces, Hermia, e'er I go;
My Ear should catch your Voice, my Eye your Eye,
My Tongue should catch your Tongue's sweet Harmony.
O teach me how you look, and with what art
You charm and govern my Demetrius's Heart?
Her.
I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
Hel.
Oh that your frowns could teach my smiles such Skill!
Her.
I give him Curses, when he gives me Love.
Hel.
Oh that my Prayers could such Affection move!
Her.
His Folly, Hellena, is none of mine.
Hel.
No, 'tis your Beauty; wou'd that Fault were mine.
Her.
Take comfort, he no more shall see my Face.
Ly.
To you, fair Hellena, we'll disclose our minds.
This very night, when Luna does behold
Her Silver Visage in the Watry Glass,
Decking with liquid Pearl the bladed-Grass,
(A time propitious to unhappy Lovers)
We from this cursed Town will steal away.
Her.
And in the Wood, where often you and I
Upon faint Primrose Beds have laid us down,
Emptying our Bosoms of our secret thoughts.
There my Lysander and my self shall meet
To seek new Friends, new Habitations.
Ly.
Madam, farewell. O may the Pow'rs above
Make Hellen happy in Demetrius's Love.
[Exeunt Lysander and Hermia.
Hel.
Oh why should she be more belov'd than I?
My Beauty is as much extol'd as hers:
He will not see that which all others do.
Love looks not with the Eyes, but with the Mind,
Therefore the God of Love is painted blind.
Love never had of Judgment any Taste;
Wings, and no Eyes, must figure thoughtless Haste.
For the same reason Love is call'd a Child,
Because so often in his choice beguil'd.
As Boys ev'n at their Sports themselves forswear;
So the Boy Love is perjur'd every where.
Before Demetrius saw fair Hermia's Eyes,
He swore his Heart was made my Beauty's Prize.
But when from Hermia new heat he felt,
His frozen Oaths did in an Instant melt.
I'll to Demetrius, tell him of their flight,
The place they meet at by the Moon's pale light:
Then to the Wood he will pursue the Maid;
And if he thanks me, I am overpaid.
[Exit.
Enter Quince the Carpenter, Snug the Joyner, Bottom the Weaver, Flute the Bellows-mender, Snout the Tinker, and Starveling the Taylor.
Qu.
Is all our Company here?
Bo.
You had best call 'em generally, Man by Man, according
to the Scrip.
Qu.
Here is the Scrowl of every Man's Name, who is thought
fit through all the Town to play in our Enterlude before the
Duke, at the Marriage of Lysander and Hermia, or Demetrius
and Hermia, no matter which.
Bo.
First, Peter Quince, say what the Play treats on; then
read the Names of the Actors, and so go on to appoint the Parts.
Qu.
Marry, our Play is the most lamentable Comedy, and
most cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Bo.
A very good piece of work, and a merry. Now, good
Peter Quince, call forth the Actors. Masters spread your selves.
Qu.
Answer as I call you. Nick Bottom the Weaver.
Bo.
Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed.
Qu.
You Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.
Bo.
What is Pyramus? a Lover, or a Tyrant?
Lu.
A Lover that kills himself most Gallantly for Love.
That will ask some tears in the true performance of it. If
I do it, let the Ladies look to their Eyes; I will move stones.
I will condole in some measure.
[To the rest.]
yet my chief humour
is for a Tyrant, I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to
make all split. The raging Rocks, and shivering Shocks, shall
break the Locks of Prison-Gates; and Phœbus Carr shall shine
from far, and make and mar the foolish Fates. This was Lofty.
Now name the rest of the Players, This is Ercle's vain, a Tyrant's
vain, a Lover's is more condoling.
Qu.
Francis Flute the Bellows-mender.
Fl.
Here, Peter Quince.
Qu.
You must take Thisbe on you.
Fl.
What is Thisbe? A wandring Knight?
Qu.
It is the Lady that Pyramus must love.
Fl.
Nay faith, let not me play a Woman, I have a beard come.
Qu.
That's all one, you shall play it in a Mask, and you
may speak as small as you will.
Bo.
And I may hide my face, let me play Thisbe too; I'll
speak in a monstrous little voice, Thisbe, Thisbe; ah! Pyramus,
my Lover dear, and Thisbe dear, and Lady dear.
Qu.
No, no, you must play Pyramus, and I'll play Thisbe,
and Flute, Thisbe's Father.
Bo.
Well, proceed.
Qu.
Robin Starveling the Taylor.
St.
Here, Peter Quince.
Qu.
Robin Starveling, you must play Thisbe's Mother. Tom
Snout the Tinker.
Sn.
Here, Peter Quince.
Qu.
You, Pyramus's Father: Snug the Joyner, you the Lion's
part, and I hope there is a Play fitted.
Snug.
Have you the Lion's part written? Pray if it be, give
it me, for I am slow of Study.
Qu.
You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.
Bo.
Let me play the Lion too, I will roar that it will do
any Man's heart good to hear me; I will roar, that I will make
the Duke say, let him roar again, let him roar again.
Qu.
If you should do it too terribly, you would fright the
Ladies, and they would shriek, and that were enough to
hang us all.
I, I, that would hang every Mothers Son of us.
Bo.
I grant you friends, if I should fright the Ladies out of
their wits, they might have no more discretion but to hang us,
but I will aggravate my voice so, that I will roar you as
gently as any sucking Dove; I will roar you as 'twere any
Nightingale.
Qu.
You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a
sweet fac'd Youth, as proper a Man as one shall see in a Summers
Day; a most lovely Gentleman-like man, therefore you
must needs play Pyramus.
Bo.
I will undertake it then. But hark you, Peter Quince.
Qu.
What say'st thou, Bully Bottom?
Bo.
There are things in this Comedy of Pyramus and
Thisbe, will never please; first, Pyramus must draw a Sword to
kill himself, which the Ladies cannot abide. How answer you
that?
Snug.
Berlaken, a parlous fear.
Sta.
I believe we must leave killing out, when all's done.
Bo.
Not a whit, I have a device to make all well; write me,
a Prologue, and let the Prologue say we will do no harm with
our Swords, and that Pyramus is not kill'd indeed; and for the
better assurance, tell 'em that I Pyramus am not Pyramus, but
Nick Bottom the Weaver, and that will put 'em out of all
fear.
Qu.
Well, we will have such a Prologue.
Sno.
Will not the Ladies be afraid of the Lion?
Sta.
I promise you I fear it.
Bo.
Masters, you ought to consider with your selves. To
bring in (God bless us) a Lion among Ladies, is a most dreadful
thing! for there is not a more fearful Wild-fowl than the
Lion living, and we ought to look to it.
Snug.
Therefore we must have another Prologue to tell
'em he is not a Lion.
Bo.
Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must
be seen thro' the Lion's neck, and he himself must speak thro'
it, saying thus, or to the same defect; Ladies, or fair Ladies, I
would wish you, or I would request you, or I would intreat
you, nor to fear, nor to tremble, my life for yours: if you
think I come hither as a Lion, it were pity of my life; no, I
am no such thing, I am a Man as other Men are. And there
in deed let him Name his Name, and tell 'em plainly he is
Snug the Joyner.
Qu.
Well, it shall be so. But there are two hard things in
our Comedy, to bring the Moon-shine into a Chamber, for you
know Pyramus and Thisbe met by Moon-light.
Snug.
Does the Moon shine that Night we play our Play?
Bo.
A Callender, a Callender. Look in the Almanack; find
out Moon-shine, find out Moon-shine.
Fl.
Yes, it does Shine that Night.
Bo.
Why then you may leave a Casement of the great Hall
Window (where we play our Play) open, and the Moon may
shine in at the Casement.
Qu.
Or else, one may come in with a Bush of Thorns, and
a Lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or to present the
Person of Moon-shine. Then there is another thing, we must
have a Wall in the great Room; for Pyramus and Thisbe, (as
says the Story) did talk thro' the chink of a Wall.
Sta.
You can never bring in a Wall. What say you Bottom?
Bo.
Some Man or other must present Wall, and let him have
some Plaster, and some Lome, and some rough-cast about him,
to signifie Wall; and let him hold his Fingers thus, and thro'
that Cranny shall Pyramus and Thisbe whisper.
Qu.
If that may be, then all's well; here my Masters, here
are your Parts; and I am to intreat you, request you, and desire
you, to Con 'em against Night, and meet in the Palace-Wood,
a Mile without the Town, by Moon-light; there we
will Rehearse; for if we meet in the City, we shall be dogg'd
with Company, and our Devices known; in the mean time, I
will get your Properties ready, and all your Habits, that every
Man may Dress, to Act it in Form; and pray fail me not.
Bo.
We will meet, and there we may Rehearse more obscenely,
and couragiously. Take pains, and be perfect. Adieu.
Qu.
At the Duke's Oak we meet.
All.
Enough, enough.
[Exeunt.
| The Fairy-Queen | |